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New state Comptroller JUDY BAAR TOPINKA has named some longtime aides and other state government veterans to staff her new office.

New state Comptroller JUDY BAAR TOPINKA has named some longtime aides and other state government veterans to staff her new office.

“My staff is wonderful, it is very professional, it is hard working, and it’s already at work,” Topinka said just after the Senate was sworn in earlier this month. “We have not missed a beat here.”

As when she was state treasurer, Topinka’s chief of staff is NANCY KIMME, 49, of Chicago. During her inaugural address Jan. 10, Topinka made a special point to laud Kimme as “the gal who has been very intrinsic to our campaign,” and to “making sure everything works well” back when she was chief of staff in the treasurer’s office.

“She’s like a combination of the mom that I have lost and miss terribly much, a sister that I never had, a good friend and a very hard worker, and the political guru of our operation,” Topinka said.

Kimme, who spent time between jobs in the treasurer’s and comptroller’s offices as administrator of legislative affairs for Metra, the commuter rail system in the Chicago area, is being paid $132,000 annually in the new post.

MARKUS VEILE, 37, of Springfield is an assistant comptroller. He’s been an independent information technology and management consultant for four years, and worked for Topinka for five years at the treasurer’s office in network administration. He’s being paid $108,000 annually.

Another assistant comptroller is STEVE VALASEK, 51, of Springfield. He was director of state accounting in the comptroller’s office under Democrat DAN HYNES. His pay has moved up from $109,100 to $120,000 annually. Valasek, who has 30 years of state experience, is a CPA with a master’s in accounting from what is now the University of Illinois Springfield.

PEG MOSGERS, 53, of Chicago is Topinka’s legislative director. She has more than 20 years with state government, most recently with the Senate Republican staff. Her salary is now $98,000 annually, up from $91,364.

Chief legal counsel to Topinka is ALISSA CAMP, 42, of Springfield. For four years, she has been an auditor/investigator with the secretary of state’s inspector general, JIM BURNS. She also worked six years for Topinka, and for the law firm Hinshaw & Culbertson. She’s being paid $92,000 annually.

CHRISTIE SULLIVAN, 30, of Springfield, who earlier worked in the treasurer’s office, is Topinka’s scheduler, making $62,000 annually.

Her communications director is BRAD HAHN, 37, of Chicago. He’s a former press secretary to then-U.S. House Speaker DENNIS HASTERT, R-Plano, and was also spokesman for the Illinois Republican Party when RICH WILLIAMSON was its chairman. A University of Iowa graduate, he also was a political reporter, working for the Elgin Courier-News and the Daily Herald, based in Arlington Heights, and at the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. He’s being paid $107,000 annually.

I reported earlier that CORY JOBE, a former Topinka staffer now running for Ward 6 alderman in Springfield, is Topinka’s deputy chief of staff, making $92,000 annually.

Topinka, by the way, said nice things at the inauguration about her predecessor, Democrat Hynes. She called him “one of the classiest and most dedicated public servants I’ve had the opportunity to work with.”

The salaries for Topinka’s chief of staff and assistant comptrollers, by the way, are less than comparable staff members were being paid under Hynes — though those people were longtime comptroller employees.

Former Hynes chief of staff KEITH TAYLOR of Springfield was paid $139,759 annually, while assistant comptrollers RICK CORNELL of Springfield and DON TEMPLEMAN of Monticello each were paid $126,301.

Ingoglia reuses signs
So, what’s with those campaign signs for MARIO INGOGLIA that feature a pink strip or two?
Well, call it recycling, with a message.

Ingoglia, who owns his own tailor shop, was a write-in candidate for Springfield mayor four years ago, when the issue of a smoking ban was still a big topic for bars and restaurants.

“I was against the smoking ban the way it was presented,” Ingoglia said. “I thought it would be better to allow businesses to choose.”

Thus, in his campaign signs back then, the “i” in Mario was in the form of a cigarette, with a flame on top. Those signs also said he was a “write-in for” mayor.

Now, it’s a new day. State law bans indoor smoking everywhere, and Ingoglia is on the ballot. So, using the same signs, he has placed pink vinyl strips over the “write-in” part. And on some signs, he’s also placed a pink strip over the “i,” to cover the cigarette for what he said is “cancer awareness.” But he also left the cigarette showing on some signs, because he knows some will remember him as being for smokers’ rights back in 2007.

Lackman leads lobbyists
PHIL LACKMAN, vice president of government relations with the Independent Insurance Agents of Illinois, is serving a one-year term as speaker of the Third House — an organization of Illinois lobbyists.

Lackman, 51, of Springfield, worked on the Senate Republican staff and was deputy director of legislative affairs for the secretary of state’s office under JIM EDGAR from 1986-90.

He later became a lobbyist for the Illinois Life Insurance Council, and has been with the Independent Insurance Agents since 1995. The organization represents 1,200 agencies that combine to have thousands of agents.

MIKE TATE, a former state representative from Decatur now of Springfield, is executive director of the Springfield-based group.

With all the insurance changes coming from the national level, Lackman said he’s been traveling to Washington, D.C., four or five times a year. Springfield remains his primary focus, however.

The Third House is open to all registered lobbyists. Those who have served as speakers of that group get together each year to name the next year’s leader.

Lackman says the negative portrayal of lobbyists in general doesn’t paint an accurate picture.

“I think everybody in America has an advocate working for them in Washington and Springfield,” Lackman said. “Most people ... whether they are in business, human services (or) an association, realize they need advocacy at the state and federal levels.”

Among his duties is arranging a reception for new members of the General Assembly at the Executive Mansion. The Feb. 15 event will give members of the lobbyist group the chance to get to know the new lawmakers.

Lackman took over as Third House Speaker from Chicago-based lobbyist JOHN NICOLAY, whose clients include the Chicago Cubs and Yahoo!

Bernard Schoenburg is political columnist for The State Journal-Register. He can be reached at 788-1540 or
bernard.schoenburg@sj-r.com.

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